Unlike the ski or monoski, the gliding board which constitutes the platform of a snow surfboard is used asymmetrically, because the user's body and thus his feet are not directed along the longitudinal axis of the board; instead, the feet are positioned at a sharp slant with respect to this axis. The snow surfer's body is placed askew of his board, either with the right foot in back and the left foot in front for right-footed persons ("regular foot"), or with the left foot in back and the right foot in front for left-footed persons (so-called "goofy foot") .
The distance between the feet depends on the morphology of the user, and essentially on his/her size. The feet are not perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the surfboard, but the toes are essentially turned towards the front of the surfboard, this orientation being indicated by an angle measured from the line perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the surfboard. This orientation can generally vary between approximately 0 to 40 degrees for the back foot, and between 10 and 45 degrees for the front foot, the most popular position for most competent surfers presently being the "intermediary" position, namely
back foot: orientation angle between 10 and 15 degrees;
front foot: orientation angle between 30 and 45 degrees.
In any event, the surfer's body is askew with respect to the surfboard and the direction in which it is moving. Turns are made either by leaning the body forward, towards the toes (known more simply as the toe side or "front side"), or by leaning back towards the heels (or the "back side"). The surfer's center of gravity thus moves along an axis whose orientation substantially bisects the angle formed by the surfer's feet. The construction of snow surfboards, which initially was oriented towards symmetric surfboards (after the fashion of wave surfboards and skateboards), now tends increasingly to be oriented towards surfboards having asymmetric dimension lines. A few printed publications already exist in this sense, in particular:
The article in the French magazine "WIND SURF NEIGE," Special Edition 11, 1989, page 20: "Scoop: le surf total" ["Scoop: the Total Surfboard"];
Document EP-A-0325 546;
"Surf des neiges" ["Snow Surfboard"] by J. Maruzzi and J. F. Causse, Editions Glenat, 1958, pages 90-91.
The constructions proposed by these publications have the disadvantage of requiring a specific configuration for the "regular" position and another configuration for the "goofy" position, which requires producers to use more equipment and presents some production problems. The result is a higher production cost for the surfboard.